Losing an entire week of prime construction season to rain reminds me of Robert Burns’ prose,   “...The best laid schemes of mice and men, go often askew...”  from his 1785 poem To a Mouse. For all the planning, scheduling, and coordinating schedules, there’s not a lot I can do when nature won’t take my call.

 But the delays of current projects are countered by an awareness of plants installed earlier in the season, storing up their reserves as the rainy days move ahead. Each gallon poured out upon the earth replenishes a newly installed plant, reassuring its nursery-fed root stock that there will be enough to drink, and acclimating each tree to its new surroundings.

 With the rains so prevalent, most of my garden appreciation lately has been through a window. Our little rain garden sits full in our back border, cycling water back into the ground and showing off its fall wardrobe. I can recall the construction delays experienced in my own garden, frustrated as both the client and contractor due to an unexpected snowfall. Mostly though, I stand back and appreciate the end result. The wet areas collect water, just as planned, and the remainder of the yard stays dry, just as we’d hoped. Sometimes those best laid plans stay right on track.

When the end result of the garden looks like the photo above, it's easy to forget it once looked like the photo below....